Competitive Strategies

Will it or won’t it? Those eagerly awaiting word about whether the Federal Reserve will directly operate a real-time gross settlement system will have to wait a bit longer. The Fed last October said it was considering whether to directly develop and operate a RTGS system as an outgrowth of …

Long-time NACHA president and chief executive Jan Estep will cede that role July 1 to chief operating officer Jane Larimer, the organization announced Monday. Estep will formally retire at the end of the year, NACHA said, following a confidential process she set in motion late in 2018 with NACHA’s board …

First Data Corp. launched CloverAchievers, a grant program for small-business owners that offers recipients a cash grant, Clover point-of-sale equipment, and a charitable donation in their names. Bank of America Merchant Services said it and subscription-management specialist Recurly are working together on products for merchants. Fraud-prevention firm ACH Alert named …

In its latest move to enhance its electronic bill-payment services, Mastercard Inc. announced Friday it has a deal to acquire bill-pay platform provider Transactis Inc. New York City-based Transactis provides technology that enables small businesses and organizations such as schools and property owners that mostly deal with paper bills and …

The integrated-payments phenomenon is paying off for EVO Payments Inc. in the United States and internationally. While Atlanta-based EVO reported a decrease in first-quarter earnings, its strategy of courting integrated software vendors and companies that support their point-of-sale software continues to reap rewards, which EVO management says will benefit the …

Denver light-rail and bus riders will be making a bit of electronic-payments history this spring and summer by being the world’s first commuters able to use Uber Technologies Inc.’s mobile app to buy and use transit tickets. The new service, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks, …

Facebook Inc. reportedly is planning a cryptocurrency-based payment system using a digital coin with stable value that would enable the social-networking giant to avoid fees it incurs for conventional card payments, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal cited by the Associated Press. The report says Facebook is …

The big merchant processors Global Payments Inc. and merger candidate Worldpay Inc. reported healthy first-quarter results Thursday. North America performed especially well for Atlanta-based Global Payments, generating $678.4 million in revenues, up 14% from $594 million in 2018’s first quarter. In contrast, European revenues slipped 0.3% to $142.9 million while …

The board of directors of Mitek Systems Inc., the developer of remote deposit capture and identity-verification software, has concluded its “strategic review” of alternatives that could have led to the company being acquired, but now plans to remain independent. “Our board, following a thorough review of the results and in …

Square Inc. has been a non-traditional merchant acquirer since its birth nearly a decade ago, and a wave of industry mergers won’t change that, according to chief executive Jack Dorsey.  “I do think we will continue to see consolidation, but that doesn’t worry me,” Dorsey, who also is Twitter Inc.’s …